Culturally, American Christians have tended to make two equal and opposite mistakes when talking about the cross. The first mistake is to turn it into a tool for spiritual abuse – to emphasize the horror and agony and Christ’s sacrifice in such a way as to “guilt trip” someone into honoring Jesus or compel compliance (e.g. “How can you insult the one who died for you?" Or “When you sin, you are nailing Jesus to the cross all over again?”).
The second mistake is to diminish the cross so profoundly that we only speak of resurrection and God’s love through language that sounds too much like the “power of positive thinking” and ignores the call that Christ has given every Christian to “take up your cross and follow me.”
Throughout the season of Lent, we journey to the cross, reflecting on its deep meaning and transformative power. This worship series invites us to explore the cross as more than a symbol—it is the ultimate expression of God's love, sacrifice, and redemption. On the cross, Jesus did more for us than we could ever know and far more than most of us have ever heard about.
"The Jesus Campaign" is a transformative worship series designed to reframe how we see Jesus’ ministry - not just as a collection of miracles and teachings, but as a bold, countercultural movement to bring God’s Kingdom to earth. Through this series, we’ll explore how Jesus’ message challenged the status quo, uplifted the marginalized, and called people to radical discipleship.
Each week, we will walk through key moments in Jesus’ ministry, viewing them through the lens of a divine campaign—a movement of grace, truth, justice, and love. We'll ask: What does it mean to be a true follower of Jesus today? How can we live out His message in a world that desperately needs hope?
This series will:
Examine Jesus’ revolutionary message and methods
Challenge us to embody His teachings in daily life
Call us to be active participants in God’s Kingdom work
The "Songs of the Season" sermon series focuses on the rich and meaningful scripture associated with the music of the Christmas season, exploring how they reflect the story of Christ's birth and bring deeper understanding to the joy, hope, and peace of this holy time. Each week, the series highlights a beloved book of the Bible, connecting the biblical truths and the advent themes of anticipation, love, and the fulfillment of God’s promises. Through these messages, the congregation is invited to engage their faith and worship with a fresh perspective, drawing closer to the heart of the Christmas story.
This series is about how to practice discernment, that is how to interprets the call and will of God. Within our church, we teach that scripture (aka, The Bible) is God's sufficient and authoritative revelation of His will, and that scripture is best understood through the use of our God-given gifts of reason, tradition, and experience.
These messages should give the church confidence that together we can truly are seek God’s will rather than contesting to see who wins an argument. We can be proud rather than embarrassed to bring difficult conversations before God, because we believe we will receive a word that will change our world. And above all, we can have a living faith that talks to and about God in the past tense, because we believe that God Still Speaks.
God's fundamental tool for repairing relationships and repairing the world is a kind of promise called a covenant. The Bible tells us of many different kinds of covenants: covenants with individuals people, covenants with nations, covenants with the whole of creation. Each covenant is a promise from God, and when we say that God is faithful, we mean that God will keep every promise.
There are three promises that God offers to every person, without exception:
Calling
Belonging
Transformation
The older name for these promises are prevenient grace, justifying grace, and sanctifying grace. In this four-weeks series, we explore how these eternal gifts of God can make a real and present difference for us today. God's heart goes so far beyond reciting empty doctrines or offering begrudging obedience, God wants us to live wholeheartedly, and He promises to share everything we need to make that happen.
Spiritual practices give us practical ways to open our heart to God and discover His faithfulness. These are not things we do to try and earn God's favor or attention; they are ways to discover what God is already doing, to become more aware of His presence in our everyday lives.
At Fairhope UMC, every member commits to five fundamental practices that help us see and share the Kingdom of God:
Prayer
Presence
Gifts
Service
Witness
In his first sermon series at Fairhope UMC, Rev. Michael challenged all our church make at least one new commitment to one of these practices throughout his first 90 days as the Senior Pastor at Fairhope UMC. This series offers new ways and new reasons for anyone to be Faithful in Five.
Our September series is called “Having Words with Jesus” to reflect a variety of moods and meanings. Maybe we want to argue, or turn away, or give up. Or maybe we really want to know, to spend some time in his presence to understand and to explore, and finally, to hear. This is a call to listen again, even to the more difficult passages that we sometimes want to skip over. Join in this month as we have words with Jesus in worship.
